Dupage Policy Journal

Awake Illinois is hosting an event at Hotel Arista in Naperville on Saturday, June 18 to celebrate the first anniversary of its advocacy.

Dr. Corey DeAngelis, national director of research at the American Federation for Children, will headline the affair which will include dinner, dessert and a cash bar.

“I'm looking to really try and get people to our Awake Illinois event,” Awake Illinois’s Shannon Adcock told DuPage Policy Journal. "We have a really good panel of speakers and Project H.O.O.D. is our charitable beneficiary.”

Expert panelists will participate in the event, Adcock said.

“It's going to be at Hotel Arista, June 18, Saturday night," she said. "We have Corey DeAngelis coming in, the national school choice advocate Paul Vallas will be there, Frank McCormick, the Waukegan teacher whistleblower, Indianapolis educator from Indianapolis Public Schools whistleblower Tony Kinnet and Nicole Neily from Parents Defending Education in D.C. I actually invited Ted Dabrowski from Wirepoints to maybe join and reference some of the statistics of family students. So it's going to be really good.”

“You’re invited to a fun evening of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” a flyer for the event reads. The panel includes New Grace Schools founder Pastor Randy Blan as well.

DeAngelis is also an executive director at Educational Freedom Institute, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and a senior fellow at Reason Foundation who was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work on education policy. He is also a recipient of the Buckley Award from America’s Future in 2020, according to Cato Institute.

In an April Illinois State Board of Education meeting, Adcock called on Dr. Carmen Ayala, the commissioner of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), to resign for not doing more to protect the integrity of education across the state during the pandemic. 

"Carmen Ayala should resign, as should every member on the board who did not fight for children and lawful due process the last two years who all waged war on our children," Adcock told Prairie State Wire. "They should all be gone, every one of them. Other than that, they're doing great." 

Her statements came after the Chicago Teacher Union forced children into remote learning after planned work action, the Chicago City Wire reported. 

Chicago Public Schools teachers who did not participate in that work action — disguised as concern over COVID-19 — were threatened by others within the ranks, according to Chicago City Wire.